Milestone

Fellowship

Last updated 13 September 2022
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Instructions

Expand each role using the menu on the left to reveal its capabilities. Clicking on each capability on the left will show the associated competencies on the right hand side. These can then be expanded to provide more detail on the required knowledge, skills and attributes.

Compare competencies of the roles at different milestones

8. Rationally and responsibly use the healthcare system

Know

  • Be familiar with Australian government-funded health and social service programs that are relevant to the local community, and know the criteria to access these.
  • Establish structures to keep abreast of changes to these to optimise patient access to appropriate services, including:
    • relevant MBS item numbers, including:
      • chronic disease management plans for individuals on low incomes to enable access to allied health services
      • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments
      • mental health plans for individuals on low incomes to enable access to clinical psychologists or counsellors
      • health assessments for individuals aged 45–49 years and 75+ years
      • refugee health assessments
    • Translating and Interpreting Service
    • other mental health programs
    • funded access to treatment, rehabilitation and financial support after a motor vehicle accident from state- and territory-based third-party insurers
    • workers compensation financial support after a work-related injury.

Do

  • Refer patients appropriately to these programs, providing appropriate paperwork and/or referrals according to criteria for eligibility.
Open all sections

Instructions

Expand each role using the menu on the left to reveal its capabilities. Clicking on each capability on the left will show the associated competencies on the right hand side. These can then be expanded to provide more detail on the required knowledge, skills and attributes.

Compare competencies of the roles at different milestones

9. Identify and address contributors to health inequity and advocate for care access

Know

  • Understand the breadth of factors that increase risk of acute and chronic conditions, and that impact access to healthcare (competency 8.4.2) and resources that support preventive care and healthy lifestyle choices in the local community (competency 9.3.1).
  • Understand the importance of having an ‘equity lens’ to identify where inequity affects access to health services and preventive care (including vaccination and screening) and, more broadly, to health-promoting environments, resources and activities (such as space to exercise, quality nutritious food and a supportive community network).

Do

  • Address stigma and barriers to access when they are identified, and advocate for the rights of individuals: in the community, in own health service, in external health organisations and institutions, with the government and, if appropriate, in the media.
  • Identify issues that may require leadership; for example:
    • improving public awareness of, and reducing stigma about, mental health issues
    • advocating for vulnerable individuals or groups (eg cultural minority groups) to access healthcare (including public health initiatives such as vaccination campaigns) and culturally appropriate health resources
    • improving health literacy
    • improving access to health-promoting environments and activities.

Know

  • Maintain knowledge of:
    • standard and transmission-based precautions (eg outbreak control, including identifying individuals who may have communicable diseases and implementing appropriate procedures to minimise risk of spread)
    • appropriate use of personal protective equipment
    • healthcare-associated infection surveillance, including notifiable diseases.

Do

  • Undertake public health roles relevant to general practice, such as:
    • making notifications regarding STIs to relevant department of health and assisting with contact tracing, once informed consent has been provided
    • implementing vaccination programs with appropriate education (and typically in a team with practice nurse[s]) for communicable diseases (eg active pulmonary tuberculosis)
    • identifying health concerns in the local community (eg related to occupational or environmental risk factors) and managing these through advocacy and professional support
    • staying informed of disease trends and guidelines regarding screening and prevention to help identify vulnerable groups and detect or prevent disease to improve health outcomes.
  • Participate in public health initiatives; for example, health education and promotion campaigns, implementation of vaccination programs and advocacy regarding issues of public health concern.
  • Identify and provide initial safe management of the following conditions to reduce risk of transmission to others, including:
    • notifiable communicable diseases
    • STIs (eg chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, human papillomavirus [HPV])
    • vector-borne diseases (eg malaria, dengue fever)
    • airborne viruses (eg influenza, COVID-19, tuberculosis)
    • vaccine-preventable diseases (eg hepatitis B, measles, mumps, varicella, tetanus, polio, meningococcus, haemophilus)
    • blood-borne viruses (eg HIV, hepatitis C)
    • infections spread by contact (eg chlamydial eye infections, scabies)
    • potential environmental hazards, including those related to climate change (eg water quality, water-borne infections, blood lead levels, respiratory effects of pollution, thunderstorm asthma, heat stroke)
    • occupational hazards (eg Q fever).
      (Note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a guide to common and important-to-know conditions of public health importance.)
  • Appropriately advise parents to notify schools/childcare according to exclusion criteria for common childhood infections; for example, viral diarrhoeal diseases, croup, erythema infectiosum, roseola infantum, hand, foot and mouth disease, pertussis and head lice.

Know

  • Understand the breadth of factors that impact access to healthcare in the local community (competencies 8.3.3 and 9.3.1), both broadly and for specific priority population groups (competency 9.3.2).

Do

  • Identify care provision gaps in the local community (competency 8.3.3).
  • Continue to advocate for individuals to access the care needed (competency 4.3.2).
  • Identify local community agencies that provide care, and the local, state, territory or federal agencies responsible for providing funding.
  • Identify strategies to address care provision gaps through:
    • advocating to external agencies
    • advocating for extending the care provided in own health service, or to find other ways to reduce barriers to access
    • identifying professional development opportunities to improve skills and knowledge to facilitate delivery of care required.
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